Tension exercise device

ABSTRACT

A tension exercise device to be worn on the body of the user having a waist encircling belt, a thigh encircling strap on each thigh, a spacer strap extending between the waist belt and each thigh strap and an elastic band attached to either or both the waist belt, the thigh straps, and the ankle straps. The elastic band can have both ends attached to the belt and thigh straps or ankle straps or each elastic band may have one end attached to a handle to hold and pull on while exercising. Wrist straps similar to the ankle straps can also be provided. Attachment rings are located on the waist belt and all the straps for attachment of the elastic bands or as a guide of the elastic bands. The ends of the elastic bands may be attached to various locations on the belt or straps or to pull handles to provide various exercise movements while walking, jogging or jumping to increase both muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a tension exercise device to be worn on the body of the user and more specifically having a waist encircling belt, a thigh encircling strap on each thigh, a spacer strap extending between the waist belt and each thigh strap and an elastic band attached to either or both the waist belt, the thigh straps, and the ankle straps

The elastic band can have both ends attached to the belt and thigh straps or ankle straps or each elastic band may have one end attached to a handle to hold and pull on while exercising. Wrist straps similar to the ankle straps can also be provided. The ends of the elastic bands may be attached to various locations on the Belt or straps or to pull handles to provide various exercise movements while walking, running or jumping to increase both muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is known in the prior art to use various combinations of waist belts and thigh and ankle straps along with elastic stretch bands to perform exercises on various muscles for strength and to achieve cardiovascular fitness while walking, running or jumping.

Typical examples of such patents are U.S. Pat. No. 5,186,701 Wilkinson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,754 Maclean, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,993,362 Ghobadi.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A tension exercise device to be worn on the body of the user which has a waist encircling belt, a thigh encircling strap on each thigh, a spacer strap extending between the waist belt and each thigh strap and an elastic band attached to either or both the waist belt, the thigh straps, and the ankle straps

The elastic band can have both ends attached to the belt and thigh straps or ankle straps or each elastic band may have one end attached to a handle to hold and pull on while exercising. Wrist straps similar to the ankle straps can also be provided. The ends of the elastic bands may be attached to various locations on the Belt or bands or to pull handles to provide various exercise movements while walking, running or jumping to increase both muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front elevation view of the tension exercise device showing the waist belt and thigh and ankle straps with elastic stretch bands having one end connected to the waist belt and the other end held in the users hand,

FIG. 2 is a side elevation view showing the waist belt and thigh and ankle straps but with the elastic stretch band being attached to the thigh band and showing the spacer strap between the waist belt and the thigh strap,

FIG. 3 is a front elevation view of the tension exercise device showing the elastic stretch band having one end connected to the ankle strapsstraps and the other end held in the users hand and pulled upwardly, and

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a pair of elastic stretch bands having one end attached to a handle and the opposite end having a releasable clip for attachment to one of the attachment rings on the waist belt or one of the straps.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As indicated in FIGS. 1 through 3, the exercise device in indicated generally by the numeral 10 which has a waist belt 12, a thigh strap 14 and an ankle strap 16, all of which may be made of a flexible non-stretchable material such as thick strong fabric or other suitable material. The waist belt has a slide buckle 13 shown in FIG. 2 which may be fastened by a hook and loop faster as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,022 issued to

James W. Scheik, Sr.

A pair of spacer straps 18, all of which may be made of a flexible material extends between the belt 12 and both of the thigh straps 14 to maintain them in a fixed spatial relationship from the belt 12 and prevent the thigh straps from dropping down lower on the thighs.

As best seen in FIG. 2, the spacer strap 18 passes through ring 22 on the belt 12 and is attached at spaced apart locations on the thigh strap to form an inverted “V” shape to enable the user to have free unrestricted movement when performing various exercise movements.

The belt 12, the thigh straps 14 and the ankle straps 18 carry a plurality of attachment rings 22 for use in attaching one or more ends of an elastic stretch band 20.

The elastic band 20, as shown in all the FIGS., has a releasable attachment clip 24 at one or both ends and may have a handle 26 at the opposite end. As an alternative, the band 20 having attachment clips at both ends, has each end clip attached to a different ring 20

In use, the belt and straps are placed on the body of the user and one end of the stretch bands 20 are attached to one of the rings 22 and the other end may have a handle or be attached to another ring 20 at a different location. Depending upon the location of attachment, various different muscles can be exercised for increased strength while providing greater cardiovascular fitness by pulling on the handles 26 or attaching both ends of the stretch band to rings 22 at different locations while walking , running or jumping.

One can simulate curls, overhead presses, straight arm pull ups and various well know exercise movements.

Various other modifications may be made in the device herein without departing from the scope of the invention. 

1. A tension exercise device to be worn on the body of the user, the device comprising: a waist encircling belt, a thigh strap encircling each thigh of the user, a spacer strap means extending between the belt and each thigh strap maintaining a predetermined distance between the belt and each thigh strap, a pair of elastic bands, each having one end attached to either the belt or one of the thigh straps: and the opposite end of each band attached to a handle to be grasped by a hand of the user and stretched to provide tension resistance while the user is performing exercises to strengthen various muscles.
 2. The exercise device claimed in claim 1 including an ankle strap encircling each ankle of the user and wherein one end of each elastic band is attached to one of the ankle straps and the opposite end of each elastic band is attached to a handle to be grasped by a hand of the user and stretched to provide tension resistance while exercising.
 3. The exercise device claimed in claim 2 wherein the end of each elastic band opposite to that attached to an ankle strap is attached to the belt.
 4. The exercise device claimed in claim 1 wherein each elastic band has a releasable clip for attachment to either the belt, a thigh strap, an ankle strap or a handle.
 5. The exercise device claimed in claim 1 wherein the spacer strap means are located on the left and right side of the user and contain two straps with one end of each mounted at a common point on the belt and the opposite ends mounted at a spaced apart location on the thigh strap.
 6. The exercise device as claimed in claim 1 wherein both the belt and thigh straps contain rings for attaching the ends of the elastic bands passing through the rings.
 7. The exercise device claimed in claim 2 wherein the belt, thigh and straps are held in place by hook and loop fastener.
 8. The exercise device claimed in claim 1, wherein each elastic band is attached to the belt and the opposite end is attached to the ankle strap.
 9. tension exercise device to be worn on the body of the user, the device comprising: a waist encircling belt, thigh strap encircling each thigh of the user, a spacer strap means extending between the belt and each thigh band maintaining a predetermined distance between the belt and each thigh strap, an ankle strap encircling each ankle of the user, at least one attachment ring located on the belt, thigh strap and ankle straps, at least one attachment ring located on the belt, thigh strap and ankle straps, and a pair of elastic bands, each having one end attached to either the belt, one of the thigh straps, or an ankle strap: and the opposite end of each elastic band attached to a handle to be grasped by a hand of the user or to another location of the belt or one of the other straps.
 10. A tension exercise device as claimed in claim 9, wherein each end of each elastic band has a releasable clip for attachment to any attachment loop located on the belt, either thigh strap, either ankle strap or either wrist strap or a handle to be grasped by a user of the device.
 11. A tension exercise device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the belt, the thigh strap, the ankle strap and the wrist strap, are held in place by a folded over hook and loop fastener.
 12. A tension exercise device as claimed in claim 11, wherein a buckle is used to assist the hook and loop fastener in retaining the belt or straps.
 13. A tension exercise device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the spacer strap means consists of a strap extending through an attachment ring on the belt on each side of the users body and extending downwardly with each end of the spacer strap attached to the thigh belt at a spaced apart location from the other end of the same spacer strap to form an inverted “V” shaped configuration.
 14. A tension exercise device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the attachment rings serve not only as attachment rings for attaching the ends of the elastic bands but may also be used as guide rings by passing the elastic bands through the center of the attachment rings.
 15. A tension exercise device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the attachment rings are of “D” shaped configuration. 